


Troublemakers and Pranksters

by HomeForImaginaryFriends



Series: KuroDai Week 2018 [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Pranks and Practical Jokes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-03 22:38:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14579130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomeForImaginaryFriends/pseuds/HomeForImaginaryFriends
Summary: No one suspects Sawamura of all the pranks that take place during training camp.  No one except Kuroo.





	Troublemakers and Pranksters

**Author's Note:**

> KuroDai Week 2018  
> May 8, Day Three: **Partners-in-crime** / Moral Ambiguity

 

It started with a water bottle.

 

Kuroo was sure there were other things before that, things he hadn’t been there to see or just hadn’t been paying attention to.  He was observant but in order to see things clearly you had to  _ pay attention _ and Kuroo was just a 17 year old boy after all, he got distracted easily and stopped let his attention wander when they weren’t in a game.  His eyes had been wandering that day, not really focusing on one thing or another as Karasuno lined up to do their punishment drills while Nekoma got to relax.

 

There were certain people that demanded attention.  Bokuto had always been one of those people, bright and loud no matter his mood, there was no way he could blend into a crowd even before he dyed his hair.  So Kuroo found his eyes naturally drifting over to Fukurodani, to Bokuto in particular as he bent down to grab his water bottle. Bokuto always held it away from his face, squirting it into his open mouth as if this was some impressive feat.

 

Bokuto had been in a mood since Karasuno had arrived.  Kuroo had assumed it was the newness of the Miyagi team but the more Kuroo looked, the more he thought it had less to do with the team as a whole and more so directed at one player specifically.  Kuroo had brushed it off as plain competition. Bokuto was used to being the ace, even when he was a first year he tended to be taller and stronger than most. But there was something more than competition in Bokuto’s eyes as he looked over at Karasuno’s ace.

 

Kuroo had fallen Bokuto’s line of sight so he missed what happened but suddenly Bokuto’s loud sputtering filled the gym, pulling everyone's attention over to him and the fact that he was rather wet.  Even Akaashi looked like he was having a hard time keeping his usual cool composure as he pressed his thins lips together into an exaggerated frown.

 

“Bokuto.”  Akaashi’s tone was disapproving as Konoha covered his face behind Bokuto, shoulders shaking from silent laughter.

 

“The lid came off!”  Bokuto cried out, face gradually turning red as he gained more attention but not from a good spike or a perfect block.  Bokuto was oddly shy when it came to most attention he didn’t warrant himself, especially if he was embarrassing himself which happened quite often.

 

Finally Kuroo’s slow churning mind caught up with the situation as he bent over, his braying laugh filling the gym as he pointed at the wet and red-faced Bokuto.  That seemed to break everyone out of their trance as they joined in on the laughter or went back to whatever they had been doing before the interruption.

 

“Shut up Kuroo!”  Bokuto tossed the now empty water bottle at Kuroo, managing to hit his shoulder but it hardly stopped Kuroo from laughing.

 

“Bokuto.”  Akaashi said, even more disapproving.

 

“I’m sorry I’ll clean it up!”  Bokuto promised, glancing around nervously, his eyes lingering on Azumane for a moment before he ducked his head and tried to turn quickly.  The problem was he was standing in a puddle and as graceful as Bokuto was on the court, he wasn’t so much in his normal laugh.

 

Kuroo fell straight on his ass from laughing so hard as Bokuto laid sprawled out on the ground from where he had slid in the puddle.  Akaashi had a hand over his face as Shirofuku and Suzumeda ran over with towels to clean up the mess.

 

It was just chance that Kuroo glanced over to Karasuno, taking in their reactions.  Some looked like they were trying to politely hold back laughter while others looked concerned or downright done with the whole training camp experience.  Karasuno’s captain was looking over at Bokuto, a tilt of his head before he met Kuroo’s eyes as if he could feel him looking at him.

 

The corner of Sawamura’s mouth turned up slightly as if he was sharing a private joke with Kuroo before he clapped his hands and commanded the attention of his team once more.

 

Kuroo was shocked as he looked over at Bokuto, who was thanking Shirofuku as she handed him a dry shirt.  He didn’t think much of it until other things started to happen.

 

Some might call them coincidences but Kuroo was paying attention now and he knew them for what they were.  Pranks. Small harmless ones that immediately allowed the tension to drop amongst the gathered teens. They seemed to happen to each team, sometimes as a whole but mostly directed at one or two players.  All of them could give into the temptation to become too involved in the camp, to train until their bodies literally gave out on them. But then a prank would happen and everyone would be laughing, shoulders loose once more and reminded that they were young and were allowed to be a little silly every once and awhile.

 

No one would have suspected Sawamura Daichi, the 40 year old soul stuck in a 17 year olds body, of lowering himself to prank people.  Especially new teams he had just met. Kuroo found it absolutely brilliant how perfect that was. Even Kuroo had been accused of some of the more obvious pranks but he always had an alibi.

 

“Your face is weird.”  Kenma had told him as they all settled into their room for the night.  Freshly washed and still full of energy. Kuroo had been to enough of these training camps to know that within ten minutes everyone would have crashed fully and no one would move a muscle until they were woken up the next morning.

 

“How rude.”  Kuroo touched his face.  “That’s just how it looks.”  Kenma gave Kuroo a long suffering look over his DS before turning his attention back to his game.

 

“You keep looking over at Karasuno’s captain.”  Kenma was  _ always _ observant even if he looked completely disinterested.  It came with his social anxiety, he felt as if he saw everything he could predict what was coming next.  He was finally beginning to relax when it was just their team, allowing himself to tune the others out because he knew none of them would take offense to it.

 

“He’s interesting.”  Kuroo admitted with a shrug.  Sawamura was interesting despite the fact that he tried very hard not to be so.  It helped that his team was full of loud and energetic players, easily overshadowing their dependable captain.

 

“He looks at you too.”  Kenma said right before turning his DS off and curling up under his blankets.  Kuroo blinked down at him before reaching over to plug the game into its charger, something Kenma always forgot or he purposely didn’t do because he knew Kuroo would do it for him.

 

It’s later that night by chance or maybe it’s some cosmic intervention, Yamamoto is  _ always _ going on about the universe interfering at every possible point though Kuroo’s never believed in it much until that night.  When Kuroo wakes up from a dream about having to take a piss and not being able to find a bathroom to realize, yeah, he needs to take a piss.  No need to Freud that dream as he climbs out of bed and tries not to trip over too many sprawled out limbs and how the hell did Inuoka manage to make it completely off his own futon and half way across the room?

 

Kuroo is rubbing his tired face, feeling 70 instead of 17 as his body creaks and groans in protest as he shuffles down the hall.  He nearly misses them because they are coming in the opposite direction.

 

“Sawamura?”  Kuroo asks, a yawn breaking up the name as he squints into the darkness.  He thinks Sawamura must have gotten up to go to the bathroom too but he was walking from the wrong way?  Kuroo doesn’t think much of it, it is Sawamura’s first night at Fukurodani. Maybe Kuroo would have teased him, perhaps asked if he needed to hold Sawamura’s hand and show him the bathroom, but he’s just too damn tired.

 

“I thought you were sleepwalking.”  Sawamura sounds more awake than anyone should be after a full day of practice matches and grueling punishments followed by even more training afterwards.  The entirety of Karasuno are endurance monsters and it makes Kuroo tired just thinking about it.

 

“I do that sometimes.”  Kuroo admitted because he was still mostly asleep and he had never seen Sawamura look so open before.  He just looks like another teen, not the captain of a struggling team or a third year faced with a suddenly looming future.  His white shirt is nearly blinding in the darkness, his sleep shorts some darker color. His hair is too short to have real bedhead like Kuroo is probably sporting but it’s sticking up in little tufts, as if it had dried odd after the bath.

 

“I know.”  Sawamura sounds immensely amused as Kuroo squints at him in the dark.  “Ogana warned me.”

 

“Traitor.”  Kuroo spat out, he would get back the Shinzen captain the next day by making him do numerous punishments.  Sawamura grinned, his teeth white in the darkness and Kuroo is caught off by the look. It’s not the normal grin that Sawamura gives him, which is more of a baring of teeth than anything.  A grimace-smile of sort. This one is real and makes Kuroo lean towards the shorter teen without thinking about it.

 

“I better get back before one of the coaches catches us.”  Sawamura clasped Kuroo’s shoulder lightly as he passed him, slipping silently into his own room.  Kuroo touched his shoulder, turning around to go back into his classroom before his bladder reminded him that it was in dire circumstances.

 

The next day Kuroo didn’t think too much of the late night meeting until the entirety of Shinzen came barreling into the gym, holding bright pink practice shirts.  Apparently someone had replaced all their own white shirts with pink ones, or had dyed theirs pink. Kuroo couldn’t help but think Shinzen deserved it a little, they always left their clothes spread all out in the bathrooms as if their mothers were there to clean up after them.  Managers weren’t maids nor their mothers.

 

Kuroo caught a glimpse of Sawamura, who was holding the paper with the practice match line up on it.  He wasn’t paying any attention to the irate volleyball players as their own manager told them she could bleach them back to white but it would have to wait until they got home.  Kuroo was close enough to see the twitch of Sawamura’s mouth, a half smile as he glanced up and met Kuroo’s eyes before calling for his team to stretch properly.

 

“Why do you do it?”  Kuroo asked once training was done for the day.  Sawamura had come to gather his first years, telling them to go shower and he’d help clean up.  Lev had disappeared before helping, which was only natural. Bokuto had somehow managed to slip off too and Kuroo and told Akaashi he was free to go.  Not because Kuroo enjoyed cleaning up but he wanted to get Sawamura alone.

 

“Tsukishima’s endurance isn’t all that high, he was dead on his feet and he needed to shower before he crashed.”  Sawamura explained, purposefully misunderstanding Kuroo’s question.

 

Kuroo had called it when he first met the other captain, that he was a cunning one and Kuroo had to step lightly around him.  But Kuroo had misjudged how cunning Sawamura Daichi really was.

 

“Can I help?”  Kuroo asked, approaching it from a different way.  Sawamura stared down at the net in his hands before looking up at Kuroo.

 

“Okay.”  Which was a surprising answer but made Kuroo no less happy about it.

 

Sawamura was kind of a genius when it came to pranks, which surprised Kuroo everytime he was pulled into one and how perfectly they were always executed.  Most of the time they were harmless little things that could be shrugged off as mere coincidences, things that lightened the atmosphere and made everyone, even the coaches, laugh.  Sometimes they taught lessons like Shinzen stopped leaving their clothes all over the place and after a particular wide spread prank, everyone washed their dishes after their meals and didn’t leave their dirty plates lying about.

 

It also gave Kuroo an excuse to spend time with Sawamura and since he was with the dependable Karasuno captain, no one found him suspect of any wrongdoings.  Sawamura was as sturdy and dependable as everyone said he was but he was also a huge dork with a big laugh and a strong sense of justice.

 

“So what did Bokuto do to deserve the water bottle thing?”  Kuroo asked as they set up another prank. This time it was on Karasuno’s weird duo who always snuck out early to get in some practice before everyone woke up.  They were setting up a literal net to trap them.

 

Sawamura mumbled something causing Kuroo to lean forward and ask him to repeat himself.

 

“He said my thighs were as big as tree trunks.”  Sawamura nearly shouted, face turning red. Kuroo sputtered in surprise before covering his mouth to stifle his laughter, causing Sawamura to kick out at him.

 

“I think he meant it as a compliment!”  Kuroo wheezed out.

 

“How is calling my thighs big a compliment?”  Sawamura frowned as he hopped down from the stool he had been using to set the net.

 

“He meant they are muscular.”  Kuroo glanced down at said thighs and had to admit Bokuto wasn’t exaggerating by much.  “You’re sturdy.” Kuroo said without thinking. Moments later he realized what he had said, his attention snapping back to Sawamura’s face.

 

“Sturdy.”  Sawamura repeated dubiously, as if not seeing Kuroo’s mortification.  “I guess that’s okay.” But he didn’t sound as if he really meant it. Kuroo could only shrug as he followed Sawamura out of the storage room, trying not to look down at Sawamura’s sturdy anything.

 

It’s after that Kuroo has to admit that a small crush has developed, or has been developing.  Probably since he met Sawamura for the first time or maybe when he had seen the other captain play volleyball.  It wasn’t often that a person could be found who had as much passion for the club as Kuroo did, had enough drive and willpower to push his team as far as they could go even after failing time and time again.

 

Of course it helps that Sawamura’s face looks like- well  _ that _ .  All handsome and defined even when he’s half asleep during breakfast with rice on his cheek or flushed and covered in sweat after completing his third set of punishments that day.  Aren’t teenagers supposed to be awkward and uncomfortable in their own bodies? Why doesn’t Sawamura ever seem to trip over his own feet or stutter over his words?

 

On top of that Sawamura has a sense of humor that matches up quite nicely to Kuroo’s.  Sawamura is driven and focused, built like a professional athlete, and he can make Kuroo laugh so hard his pocari sweat comes out of his nose.  Pocari sweat  _ burns _ something fierce when it travels through the nasal cavities and this makes Sawamura laugh, something that comes from low down in his stomach that makes Kuroo’s face turn red from something other than embarrassment.

 

Sawamura is a problem but nothing can distract Kuroo from volleyball.  He enjoys seeing the look of frustration on Sawamura’s face as Nekoma rallies once again, never allowing the ball to drop no matter who spikes it down.  There is real anger there, it makes Sawamura’s shoulders tighten, his lips thin out and his jawline becomes even sharper as he grinds his teeth. There’s frustration but Kuroo can see how much Sawamura enjoys the challenge, how much he throws into every game and how he is right there with his own team, doing every single punishment with them.  There’s a hunger in Sawamura that makes Kuroo’s blood sing, that drives him to do even better.

 

“Tomorrow is the last day.”  Kuroo slides up next to Sawamura as the shorter teen gets seconds for dinner.  Kuroo likes looming over Sawamura, doesn’t even mind the elbow he gets for doing it.

 

“Meet me at the third gym after.”  Sawamura grins up at him, a challenge and a dare rolled into one.  Kuroo watches him walk back to his own table where Nishinoya is stealing Tsukishima’s glasses and Azumane is demonstrating hitting a serve to Yamaguchi, who watches on with big eyes.  Bokuto walks over to the table, knocking into it and making everyone rush to grab their cups so they don’t overturn. Bokuto continues on, undeterred as he leans down into Azumane’s space, who looks flustered but doesn’t have the terrified look on his face he did the first time Bokuto approached him.

 

Everyone stills at the table, even Nishinoya hands back over Tsukishima’s glasses as Bokuto pulls out his phone and hands it over to Azumane.  The phone looks comically small in Azumane’s big hands as he turns red and fumbles with it, shoulders coming up to his ears as Bokuto leans closer to show Azumane how to use it.  Kuroo thinks he’ll have to have  _ another _ discussion about Bokuto and personal space.  Bokuto doesn’t mean any harm but he’s bad at social cues and not everyone is like Kenma who will plainly tell Bokuto he’s too close.  But then Azumane’s shoulders relax and he’s sending Bokuto a small, shy smile as he hands the phone back.

 

Bokuto immediately ruins the almost adorable moment by turning and fully tripping over a chair.  Azumane is up in an instant but so is Bokuto, shame faced and stuttering before he yells something about laps and runs out of the canteen where everyone is silent.

 

“Not it.”  Fukurodani says as one unit, pressing a finger against their nose.  Akaashi looks around before sighing loudly and getting up to follow his captain out and stop him from overworking himself right before bed.

 

“Asahi you sly dog.”  Nishinoya practically yells, causing the Karasuno ace to sputter in shock.

 

After dinner and showers, when all his cats are neatly tucked into bed and passed out cold Kuroo pulls his tired and sore body out of his own futon to sneak down the hall.  It’s cold outside, the wind cutting right through his shorts and jacket. He has no idea why he’s doing this, morning will come far too soon and he was exhausted already. Practice matches, extra practicing, and keeping an eye out for his more troublesome players meant he already had full days and nights.  His body and mind craved sleep.

 

But then he thought of Sawamura, alone in the third gym as he put together whatever prank he had in store for the next day.  Sawamura wouldn’t hold it against Kuroo that he choose to sleep instead of sneaking out, risking a lecture by his coach and mockery by his teammates.  Even still Kuroo’s feet found their way to the gym and inside back to the storage room where he could hear noise coming from it.

 

“Hey, I didn’t know if you would come.”  Sawamura smiles in a way that makes Kuroo’s stomach feel like it’s somewhere around his feet which is unnerving and somehow wonderful at the same time.

 

Kuroo somehow finds himself standing in front of Sawamura, cupping warm cheeks and running his thumb oh-so-gently over the dark circles under Sawamura’s dark brown eyes.  Sawamura blushes and Kuroo is fascinated with how he can see and feel the blush beneath his palms, worries for a moment that the calluses on his hands might be too rough but then Sawamura is pressing up into Kuroo’s space and kissing him.

 

It’s Kuroo’s first kiss and it shows by the way their noses smash together and their teeth click painfully.  But then Sawamura is tilting his head just so and Kuroo pulls back a fraction and it becomes much better. Kuroo can feel Sawamura’s smile against his lips, kisses the corner of it and it feels like Kuroo’s is too full, as if air is trapped in his chest.  It’s exciting and terrifying and somehow just right.


End file.
